<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>As the World Drowns by Darkhymns</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25637758">As the World Drowns</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns'>Darkhymns</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tales of Symphonia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Affection, Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Thunderstorms, Trauma, Trust Issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:08:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,885</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25637758</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was on a night, just like this, with the rain pouring down and the wind shrieking through the skies, that Lloyd had left Colette adrift in the world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>As the World Drowns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Had a dream about this and so I wrote it down? I have so many other things to write and this wasn't meant to be one of them...</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Nothing to fear but the storm raging, knocking on our door, but we are safe inside… </em>
</p>
<p>Colette had been waiting for hours back at the inn, the building so small that she felt any gust of wind would tear it straight from its very foundations. The walls shook and rattled, in time with each furious pouring of raindrops on the roof.</p>
<p>Her grandmother, during storms like these, would sing a lullaby to her when she was young. The words came unbidden to her head, but it did little to comfort her now, in the wake of something where she could only wonder at its end.</p>
<p>
  <em> No more harm to be done, come rest your head alongside mine… </em>
</p>
<p>“It’s really coming down,” spoke the innkeeper from her counter, nearly making Colette jump from her seat in the lobby. The chair was constructed from unpolished oak, and she tried her best not to touch at it with her bare hands lest she get a splinter. </p>
<p>“Hadn’t seen a storm like this in many years.” A quick glance towards Colette, the woman’s bun slightly unwrapped after a long day. “Ya like the rain that much?”</p>
<p>“Um, y-yes!” she said with a polite smile. She pushed down at her dress to better fit snug over her knees. “I’m also just…waiting for my friend.”</p>
<p>“Ah, that young man. I told him that the sky looked fierce today!”</p>
<p>Colette nodded, but said nothing more, hearing only the storm outside, and the way it seemed to be trying to drown the entire world.</p>
<p>The town they stayed at was another small and humble place, so close to the ocean with the familiar trappings of Izoold; of seafood stalls and fishing boats. Would any of those boats be out at sea now, with the way the sky was raging above? Lloyd had left so quickly, before she had even fully woken up, and the hours kept trailing by as she thought she saw the lower floors of the inn begin to seep with rainwater.</p>
<p>As a child, she used to be fascinated by thunderstorms, believing the angels controlled them, as all her pastors would say. The storms had meaning, and should have mercy as well. But there was only the sky, and she couldn’t predict what would happen-</p>
<p>The front door suddenly opened inward. Footsteps that stumbled, but soon found a steady balance, as he always did, as she always did not. “Whoa, this wind!”</p>
<p>“Sir! Please hurry and close that door!”</p>
<p>Lloyd immediately obeyed, or he tried to at the very least, pushing at the doorframe with his shoulder while his arms were busy being full. He held several paper bags, tipping one of them just enough to let a small fruit roll away from him mischievously onto the wet floor.</p>
<p>Colette willed herself to stop being useless and helped Lloyd, her hands grabbing the doorknob and brushing alongside his jacket. The door finally clicked shut.</p>
<p>“Phew, thanks!” Lloyd turned to her with a smile, his hair drenched, along with his clothes. Usually curved upwards, his hair stuck to the side of his cheeks. It almost made her giggle – if she wasn’t already feeling so anxious.</p>
<p>“Lloyd, you were…”</p>
<p>“Ah, I got some supplies to restock! Some bread, that jelly stuff you like… Oh, they didn’t have too much fruit again…but I got the last orange!” Lloyd peered into one bag before blinking as he stared at it longer. “Huh, it was just here.”</p>
<p>Colette saw the lone fruit continue to roll until it stopped just against her shoe. She stared too long before she finally bent to retrieve it. “This?”</p>
<p>“Yeah! Sorry about that, but we could wash it easy.”</p>
<p>The disapproving frown from the innkeeper could be felt on her back, Lloyd probably dragging in more of the rain and the mud and everything else from the storm. It continued to beat and rage from outside the walls, and something about the sound was filling Colette with so much dread.</p>
<p>She couldn’t take his hand, but still she reached for what she could. His shoulder, and then his suspender strap, clasped tightly in one shivering hand. “We should… go back to our room. Okay?”</p>
<p>There was an obvious question in his eyes, but he didn’t ask it, just letting her lead him along. And probably it was so ludicrous to the innkeeper to see her guiding Lloyd along like this, but she felt the heat from his jacket, felt the water drip onto her hand, chill and sudden while the walls continued to shudder.</p>
<p>When she had looked outside, all of the world had been pure white, blinding from the sheet of rain. No sound except for the wind and thunder, swallowing everything up, drowning every one of her senses. </p>
<p>It was too familiar.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <em> Rest your head, for the rain can’t reach you, not where you and I are… </em>
</p>
<p>Once back in their room, Lloyd carefully put down his bags of groceries and general supplies onto a nearby chair. Some gels fell out from the side, and he muttered a few curses underneath his breath as he went to pick them up. “Can wash these too!” he called back to Colette, a toothy grin on his face. It was bright like the sunshine.</p>
<p>Colette smiled back, but still she fiddled with her hands. Lloyd had already changed his shirt, a new and dry vest on him, despite his hair still being a dripping mess. Suspenders hung off his pants, which was only partly damp anyway. She had to keep staring, to know that he was right here, and the storm was out there…</p>
<p>
  <em> Don’t get lost in the wind, it tugs you far and far away from me… </em>
</p>
<p>Colette could only hold back for one moment longer before she had to reach out, hugging him from behind. Lloyd hummed questioningly, mainly because he was holding a few gels in one hand a bit precariously.</p>
<p>“Colette? Are you, uh, that hungry?”</p>
<p>She shook her head, pressing her forehead into his back. “You didn’t get lost?” she whispered.</p>
<p>“Ah, just a little… I guess we haven’t been to this town before.”</p>
<p>Another moment, Colette biting her lip. “You weren’t trying to-“ Stop. A breath taking hold of her. “Sorry. Never mind.”</p>
<p>Lloyd noticed it, he always did. He turned in her hold so that he could face her, making sure to drop the gels back in the bag first. “Colette, what’s up now?”</p>
<p>A deep breath, stilling the anxiousness that tried so much to settle onto her heart. “The rain outside…it’s just very strong.”</p>
<p>Perhaps Lloyd got a hint from what she meant then? He tilted his head, the rainwater sliding down his cheek, making curves and bends onto his neck. He chuckled slightly, the sound reverberating through his chest. She could feel it so well from her hands that were placed near. “I didn’t know you were afraid of thunderstorms.”</p>
<p>“Maybe… yeah…” she said, giving Lloyd just enough to perhaps be satisfied. But still she saw the curiosity, even a bit of hurt. But it was more than the rain that threatened to drown the world, that kept shaking the ground beneath them.</p>
<p>And Lloyd was rarely one to just let things be, especially knowing her tendency to hide away all her doubts. “Colette, what is-"</p>
<p>She leaned forward, not to kiss him, even as the thought played so brightly in her head, like warm sunshine that painted the leaves with white. Her tongue shyly ran along Lloyd’s cheek, where the water kept climbing down in rivulets. It was warm where she made contact. She felt his hands just slightly grip her waist in surprise.</p>
<p>
  <em> In our shelter, we can stay alive, as the angels bring their wrath all the way down… </em>
</p>
<p>Colette buried her head in his neck afterwards, and maybe she didn’t want to stop tasting him. Her tongue glided softly over skin, touched by the furious rain. A sound left Lloyd, and she saw the motions of his throat as he swallowed, soft and private, for her.</p>
<p>“H-Hey…” he started to say, confused and lost. She had told him that he wasn’t….</p>
<p>“Can we lay down?” she asked, closing her eyes. The walls shuddered again, even as the thunder rolled in from so many miles away. She shivered. “Can we…?”</p>
<p>Lloyd didn’t waste any time, not now, because maybe he saw the fear in her eyes then. Maybe he realized what it meant. “Sure,” he only said, before bringing her to it.</p>
<p>The rain pattered against the window, pounded against it, as Colette rested her head on the pillows. Lloyd was already next to her, arms around her shoulders, his hair drying up but still stuck up at odd angles. An urge to reach up and pull it back, and yet somehow she didn’t, despite what she had just done so much earlier.</p>
<p>“Are you mad at me?” he asked then, all as the rain hammered on the roof, like fists threatening to grab hold and drag them outside.</p>
<p>Easy to feel guilt then, and though that same part of her told her to lean in again and take another taste, (Is it the scared part of her? The angry part? Or confused?) she closed her eyes. “It’s just that…”</p>
<p>The wind continued to howl as they laid in bed. Raindrops that would shatter the roof, winds that would tear away the walls, thunder that would crack open the ground. <em> We’re safe, we can’t be lost as long as you are here with me… </em></p>
<p>They said that angels controlled the skies, the storms. But they didn’t, and instead everyone on earth was at the mercy of a storm who knew none. Then again, neither did the angels show any mercy either, did they?</p>
<p>She was so tempted to bury her head in his chest once more, his new clean shirt hanging off him so lightly. She wanted to close her eyes and just dream, just relax, except-</p>
<p>“I thought you would leave me again.”</p>
<p>The wind rolled across the earth, loud and terrible.</p>
<p>He brought her close. A stray forelock fell against his forehead, and once again, she just wanted to reach out. But the raindrops on his cheeks were gone, and his hair was much more dry than before.</p>
<p>“You were worried about that again.” His voice was so quiet. How was she able to hear it through everything?</p>
<p>“Is it…wrong to be worried?” she asked, and the angry, howling wind of the storm only kept hitting their walls. “You left at a time just like this.”</p>
<p>The guilt in Lloyd was also there, a glance to the side, his brown eyes soft as the earth outside. “I thought it’d be harder to find me in the rain.”</p>
<p>It felt the world was about to drown back then, flooding the streets and even some homes, and yet her wings could only continue to be buffered by the wind. She could barely see anything, anything at all. “You’re right…I could never find you.”</p>
<p>“Colette-"</p>
<p>“The storm lasted so long, for days.”</p>
<p>Lloyd held her close again, and she wanted nothing to fear when held in such arms again. But when he had left earlier, when he had left, and the storm just wouldn’t let up for even a moment…</p>
<p>“And, for a long time, I worried that maybe…in the storm, you…”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” she heard his frantic whisper. On the bed, the inn around them creaking and moaning with the wind, Lloyd said, “I should have told you where I was going.”</p>
<p><em> Nothing to fear, when you’re by me, against the storm… </em> </p>
<p>Colette couldn’t say anything, one hand placed on his chest, watching it rise and fall. “We…still have plenty of food anyway.”</p>
<p>She didn’t mean to put more doubt in her voice. It was just that feeling, being left adrift, as the sky poured forth everything it had onto a place that didn’t understand. Or just her, just her.</p>
<p>There was that small space of breath she heard from Lloyd, ready to speak, to explain. Then a sigh. “I just…wanted to surprise you, actually.” A soft laugh into her hair. “I left so I could get the ingredients to make you a fruit salad, but, um…they only had an orange.”</p>
<p>It was not an answer she had expected, even as that fruit had revealed itself to her earlier. “Really?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, like… even with the mana restored, fruits still hard to come by. And… I know you liked them a lot even when there was always so little. I was hoping more would grow by now.” A shrug, his fingers tapping against the small of her back. “Didn’t work out, I guess.”</p>
<p>Colette let her hand finally reach up, cradling the cheek she had tasted before. What a strange thing to have done, but Lloyd had only brought her closer back then, even in his confusion.</p>
<p>“…You could still make me orange juice,” she said, a flush creeping up her face as she looked to the bedsheets.</p>
<p>She could clearly imagine Lloyd’s befuddled look, a quick blink, and the voice that followed was also exactly how she predicted it would be. “That’s too hard to do!”</p>
<p>Laughter, spilling from her then, more so than the rain she could still hear outside the inn’s walls. She let herself do so, she wanted to move away from the anxiousness. They were inside together. Because he had come back, didn’t he?</p>
<p>But there was always a chance that he wouldn't.</p>
<p>The rain seemed to fall even harder now, chilling her neck, her hands, the world succumbing to mist.</p>
<p>“I still worry sometimes,” she said, once her laughter dimmed. “And I think back, like…what would have happened if I had caught you.”</p>
<p>She could look at him more easily then, raising her eyes to his face. Thunder was rolling across the ground, and she could see even then that he was affected by it, a small shudder of unease, something unknown that rushed across the heavens they had once flown so high up into. </p>
<p>“I should have let you catch me," he told her, and she knew just how much he meant it, how much he regretted. Lloyd, impulsive and strong, who had chosen her out of everyone.</p>
<p>“Mm, but… you were always much better than me at hide and seek.” Another smile. The rain around them was slowly filling up the world, <em> (he chose you over all of them) </em> but he laid his head alongside hers still. “You never liked to lose at that.”</p>
<p>“That was a game!” Lloyd said, still slightly confused, and maybe a bit offended? “I didn’t…think of me leaving like that.”</p>
<p>“I know, and…I understand. I do.” She leaned in close again, the sheets so soft, his body so warm. The scent of the rain still on his skin, its taste lying on her tongue. “But ever since, I haven’t liked storms much anymore.”</p>
<p>Lloyd’s face was close to hers, and even though they had kissed so many times before, their first so gentle, their second more bruising, and everything after a range in-between, it still brought something to her chest, tight and blooming all at once.</p>
<p>“So…just bad timing, huh?” Lloyd let out a small laugh, looking down at her as his body stayed curved around hers. “I’m dumb then.”</p>
<p>She shook her head. “No, just…I also hid this from you.”</p>
<p>A soft assenting noise from Lloyd, pulling a breath from him, eyebrows just slightly furrowed. “Well, when you put it like that…”</p>
<p>She leaned in again, taking his mouth to be over hers. To be hers, hers, only hers. The tongue that had tasted his cheek, his neck, rushed along his lips, and Lloyd only stilled for the shortest moment before kissing her back.</p>
<p>The rain shuddered the window next to them, making her gasp into his mouth, making her hold onto his dry, clean shirt so tightly.</p>
<p>“Colette,” he said, whispered, kissing the edge of her lips when she had pulled away, always seeking her. “It’s okay, I’m still here.”</p>
<p>“What if they call you again?” she asked him, and there was the weakness in her. Despite trusting him and knowing that he would always do his best to stay safe, the irrational fear came roaring back. “What if Martel…?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, I won’t go. I won’t.” Lloyd kissed her more, hands bringing her so close until there was no space between them left. “I won’t.”</p>
<p>“I can’t make you…not with…” He had promised Martel, but he had also promised <em> her </em> and she could allow to be selfish for a little, just once? All her life, she had to push away every want down, until Lloyd held onto her and told her it was okay to want, it was okay to <em> need. </em></p>
<p>
  <em> The storm will bring in sunshine, for you and me, so rest your head alongside mine… </em>
</p>
<p>The world would still be around, after the storm, but she imagined – for one moment, so quick, that no spirit or goddess would be able to see it in her heart – that the world had drowned and there was only them, just them, drifting in the water…</p>
<p>But they weren't lost.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>